Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Non-investing personal finance issues including insurance, credit, real estate, taxes, employment and legal issues such as trusts and wills.
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Acesalad
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Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by Acesalad »

I am trying to establish myself as a volunteer to help teach people basic personal finance and the enormous benefits of this knowledge. I would like to hold workshops from the National Endowment for Financial Education. My problem is I have no platform from which to hold these workshops. So far I have emailed or called my employer, my church and two local libraries offering to hold a free workshop and I have not received any type of response from any of them. I am trying not to get discouraged but I am not sure who I should approach next. I am thinking of local politicians or my local civic association(which is on hiatus for the summer so I have to wait until September) next. Has anyone here done anything similar and do you have any suggestions of people or organizations I can try to contact?
kaudrey
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by kaudrey »

There are probably local non-profit organizations that offer such classes through your county or city.

I do exactly this type of volunteering for a non-profit that "identifies and addresses the unmet fundamental needs of area residents and empowers the community to help our neighbors maintain self-sufficiency. It is a volunteer-based organization focused on easing the plight of low income residents in the county." (Quote from their website)

Through them, I teach financial literacy to low-income and homeless people - those who are receiving financial and other assistance from the county. The program is based on FDIC's Money Smart series, tailored to the audience.
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prudent
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by prudent »

We have a local organization that offers a variety of support services - food bank, help for people who need a car to get to work, emergency utility payment assistance, resume writing, etc. One of their services is financial mentoring. Perhaps there's a similar organization near you that doesn't offer personal finance teaching currently, but would do so if there was a volunteer to run it. Divorce support groups perhaps?

Also, is there a way you can meet with people face to face instead of calls/email? It would certainly help them to remember your offer, demonstrate why you are qualified to offer the service, and let you show them a high-level outline of what you can present. Emphasize you have nothing to sell. I know that might seem like a lot of work when you're just trying to offer a free service, though.
123
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by 123 »

Perhaps your local school district/high school, ymca, or city parks and recreation district offers adult education classes where this type of class would be welcomed.
The closest helping hand is at the end of your own arm.
Grt2bOutdoors
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

Are you willing to post a bond and self-insure yourself? You haven't received a response because the parties you've addressed do not want the potential liability that could arise with these types of "informational" workshops. For example, you offer it (free) but it was held at the local church parish - someone takes your advice and is harmed whether by their mistake, misunderstanding or unforeseen circumstances, but regardless they were still harmed financially. It's like the John Wayne movie "someone gets hurt - my mistake, your mistake, someone elses mistake, don't matter, I'm going to come after you and kill you". They will turn around and look to the local parish for restitution, the parish will then get involved in saying no, but then rumors start to spread about it being endorsed by the parish, etc., this creates bad blood. You know the saying "it only takes 5 minutes to ruin a reputation that took a lifetime to build". Once you've lost someone's trust it is very difficult, if ever, to regain it and there will always be a negative air afterwards. That's why I like that signature that Sheepdog has on his profile - "people should think about what they say, people should not say everything they think". That's why you haven't heard back - they don't want to take the risk of a black swan showing up.
"One should invest based on their need, ability and willingness to take risk - Larry Swedroe" Asking Portfolio Questions
livesoft
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by livesoft »

It can be worse than just personal financial liability. All the places you contacted have constituents and members in whose best interests are that you do not hold these workshops. For example, the local Edward Jones, Morgan Stanley, USB, bank advisors, etc probably do not want you providing such information as a free service.

Local politicians are bank rolled by local small business people. Local civic organizations are generally small business based, too. For instance, our local newspaper has a column provided by the local Edward Jones folks. They probably get some copy from corporate that they then get placed in the paper without advertising fees. It is fairly generic, but does have the name of the local person right there in front of your face.

Now if you worked for the local Morgan Stanley office, then it would all be different.

Good luck!
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Acesalad
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by Acesalad »

Thanks for all of your great suggestions and advice. I will continue to try.
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prudent
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by prudent »

Grt2bOutdoors raises a valid point, but I think it can be overcome by giving decision makers a look at what you would intend to cover in your workshop. As long as they have no insight to the content, you'll probably get no response. And if they have even the slightest suspicion you're trying to round up leads to sell people something, you'll be ignored.

I don't think any investment firm, mortgage broker, bank, insurance agent, CPA or attorney would have any objections to teaching people how credit cards work, how to minimize bank fees, what the different types of insurance are, understanding marginal tax rates, how to evaluate a mortgage, different types of investments available or the time value of money just to name a few concepts. I would not tell people what to do with their money. I would not collect any personal information. I would present some key concepts along with where to go to get more information.

Anything is possible, of course, but if you aren't telling them what to do, I can't imagine a scenario where you could be liable for someone's stupid decisions. I guess you could get them to sign a waiver that acknowledges you are not providing investment advice, only general information that may or may not be suitable to their individual circumstances and they should consult their own experts before taking any action on what you present. Heck, we have a local call-in radio show run by a big local brokerage firm, and their start-of-the-show disclaimer says "the advice presented may not be relied upon by any member of the audience for any reason whatsoever" !
Grt2bOutdoors
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

prudent wrote:Grt2bOutdoors raises a valid point, but I think it can be overcome by giving decision makers a look at what you would intend to cover in your workshop. As long as they have no insight to the content, you'll probably get no response. And if they have even the slightest suspicion you're trying to round up leads to sell people something, you'll be ignored.

I don't think any investment firm, mortgage broker, bank, insurance agent, CPA or attorney would have any objections to teaching people how credit cards work, how to minimize bank fees, what the different types of insurance are, understanding marginal tax rates, how to evaluate a mortgage, different types of investments available or the time value of money just to name a few concepts. I would not tell people what to do with their money. I would not collect any personal information. I would present some key concepts along with where to go to get more information.

Anything is possible, of course, but if you aren't telling them what to do, I can't imagine a scenario where you could be liable for someone's stupid decisions. I guess you could get them to sign a waiver that acknowledges you are not providing investment advice, only general information that may or may not be suitable to their individual circumstances and they should consult their own experts before taking any action on what you present. Heck, we have a local call-in radio show run by a big local brokerage firm, and their start-of-the-show disclaimer says "the advice presented may not be relied upon by any member of the audience for any reason whatsoever" !
You'd be surprised where your liability is taken into question.
Disclaimer, schlamer! It doesn't take much to get sued these days. Years ago, there was a public broadcast on one of those talk radio program that had a money program, there was some guest who was talking about how you could invest $5,000 and control 50,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline on the futures exchange yada, yada. At the end, the guest said that this was very risky but could be very profitable trade. The talk program issued a disclaimer saying it did not advocate undertaking such an investment. Well, a couple of folks listening decided they could corner the 60 day forwards market by investing money and controlling several hundred thousand gallons of unleaded gasoline - they lost their shirts! Then they turned around and sued the guest, the talk program and the guy doing the interviewing. I don't think they won, but after that - no more advertisement or guests talking about commodity futures. Why? It costs money to defend lawsuits, those with merit and those without!

I hate to say this, but never underestimate the inability for decision makers to understand topics involving personal finance, even when those topics affect their own personal finance matters. I've talked with plenty of "smart, educated" folk who simply have zero clue and are just winging it. What you're suggesting would be similar to giving them a set of architectural builders plans and say "now that you've seen what I'm intending to build you can grant me your blessing to build it" - looking at something but not understanding it or even saying you do for fear of looking shall we say "stupid" should not be the prelude to a "free or paid for workshop" that takes place on one's premises for the general public or even a targeted audience. You leave yourself open to unknown liabilities. Chances are the OP's proposal is or has been reviewed by legal counsel or general liability insurer who've put the kibosh or have recommended "no further action or response" to the query.
"One should invest based on their need, ability and willingness to take risk - Larry Swedroe" Asking Portfolio Questions
dolphintraveler
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by dolphintraveler »

When I was in High School, Bank of America sponsored a free-to-me program for interested kids in the high school grounds. A few of us got job offers for the summer out of it. But that was a couple of decades ago.

My husband said his community college offered one day workshops on this type of topic, and I've seen some programs at a nearby community college - offerings to the community rather than the student body. These were called extension courses, but these are paid courses.

I know nothing of liability issues. Good luck.
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GerryL
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by GerryL »

Where are you located? In Oregon there is a nonprofit called Financial Beginnings (http://www.financialbeginnings.org/) that recruits volunteers to offer financial literacy workshops for students of different ages and young adults. I am signed up to go to their volunteer orientation this month. If you are in another state, they may be able to offer you some ideas about how to get started.
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PaddyMac
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by PaddyMac »

In New Mexico, there is an organization I just learned about recently called Circles who teach financial literacy to low-income families:
http://circlesnewmexico.org/how-it-works/
Topic Author
Acesalad
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by Acesalad »

Where are you located? In Oregon there is a nonprofit called Financial Beginnings (http://www.financialbeginnings.org/) that recruits volunteers to offer financial literacy workshops for students of different ages and young adults. I am signed up to go to their volunteer orientation this month. If you are in another state, they may be able to offer you some ideas about how to get started.
In New Mexico, there is an organization I just learned about recently called Circles who teach financial literacy to low-income families:
http://circlesnewmexico.org/how-it-works/
Those sound like great organizations. I wished I lived near one of you but I am in New York (Long Island to be exact). I will continue to search and see if we have anything like that near me. I may even contact those organizations and see what it takes to start one in my area (Why not go for it?). Gerry, it is great that you are starting to volunteer in your area. Do you think I could email you from time to time about your experience with it? It would be nice to discuss this endeavor with someone who has similar interests.
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GerryL
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by GerryL »

Acesalad wrote:
Where are you located? In Oregon there is a nonprofit called Financial Beginnings (http://www.financialbeginnings.org/) that recruits volunteers to offer financial literacy workshops for students of different ages and young adults. I am signed up to go to their volunteer orientation this month. If you are in another state, they may be able to offer you some ideas about how to get started.
In New Mexico, there is an organization I just learned about recently called Circles who teach financial literacy to low-income families:
http://circlesnewmexico.org/how-it-works/
Those sound like great organizations. I wished I lived near one of you but I am in New York (Long Island to be exact). I will continue to search and see if we have anything like that near me. I may even contact those organizations and see what it takes to start one in my area (Why not go for it?). Gerry, it is great that you are starting to volunteer in your area. Do you think I could email you from time to time about your experience with it? It would be nice to discuss this endeavor with someone who has similar interests.
I am just beginning to investigate the Financial Beginnings opportunity and will attend an orientation early next month. If you send me a PM the second week of August I might have some insights about the group -- and a feeling for whether I will sign up as a volunteer.
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SkierMom
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by SkierMom »

I too am very interested in volunteering time as a BH to the community, specifically as a college savings adviser.

I went to a "College Savings" seminar sponsored by my children's elementary school. This was just a presentation from a "Certified College Planner" that was attempting to sell insurance and annuity products to parents.

My question is, how can this character get vetted through the school board to present (after hours, at the school library) while non-profits cannot?
123
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by 123 »

In response to SkierMom. There is a high likelihood that the presenter was related to someone in the approval process hierarchy (principal, school board, etc).
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ThePrune
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by ThePrune »

I've been leading retirement planning classes in local churches for 6 years. I find the key to getting permission to present in church settings is working through a network of personal friends and "key individuals" in various churches. Without having someone personally vouch for me and the quality of the class, there's no chance of getting in. But even then the pastors are pretty tough gate-keepers to get past!

The process can be maddeningly slow at times. For several years I was sending out mailers to a large number of local churches promoting my retirement class. Never got any responses. But eventually a couple of pastors met me at community functions, remembered my mailings, and suddenly were happy to work with me.

After I had been fighting all this for 4 years I managed to convince my local newspaper to run an article about the class. THAT changed everything. Now arranging presentation locales is a whole lot easier.

Let me suggest another way to "break into" the adult financial education arena. FINRA and AARP have worked with SaveAndInvest.org to produce a DVD titled Trick$ of the Trade: Outsmarting Investment Fraud. One of the suggested ways to use this video is to get a local library to let it be shown in a meeting room. Because the organizations who produced the DVD are so well known, this might be an easier means of getting yourself in front of a number of people as an advocate for individual investors. Do this a number of times, and you might find some other doors opening.

Good luck.
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mhalley
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by mhalley »

How about reaching out to local civic clubs? Perhaps organizations such as thr jaycees, lions club, shriners, rotary, etc?
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Acesalad
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Re: Help holding persoanl finance workshops

Post by Acesalad »

Ok Gerry. I will PM you in August to see how it is going. ThePrune and mhalley, thanks for your advice. It is useful and inspiring. Looks like I have to be tenacious in my pursuit of this goal and hopefully it will lead to some opportunities.
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